Self employed

[1Steven]

Hello, I am going self employed at the end of the month and would be grateful for any positive tips to smooth the path! Many thanks.

 

[Deleted member 7121]

Cash flow ,do invoices as soon as job completed and keep your books upto date from the start.

Good luck

 

[townfanjon]

Get ready to graft your nuts of , but bloody good luck .

 

[Rickster123]

Have a weeks paid holiday before you leave!

 

[lame plumber]

get paid immediately, pay your merchant soon thereafter. Dont over extend yourself, andif you have more work than time, tell the customers to wait a bit, then put your prices up a bit.

Dont go buying new van and tools etc, buy what you need and can afford. Need special tools, put them on the customers bill, remember, cash flow is king keep the money coming in, and take time off, your arent a duracell bunny!

 

[1Steven]

Thankyou, very helpful advice. Have set up credit card payment so hope can get the payment s in quickly.

 

[plumben]

This being my first year SE
Ive found keeping your books up to day important, im surrounded with the last 2 months to get done, and i wish id done them sooner,
Get a diary write everything in it every day, Only takes a minute notes will do
Get a simple set up for your books, excel spread sheet and folder with plastic wallets for each month/big job to keep invoices and bills organised,
Payment on completion or within 7 days make sure the customer knows that,
Give estimates for jobs it'll be between example, it'll be between 60-100 deppending if theres any issues filling the system,
Cash flow is a must, get an over draft on a buisness acount and pay your merchants straight away, then when you need to pay later they'll know your good for it, materials supplied to jobs are paid for on delivery/arrival if exceeding £100

 

[Radioman]

This being my first year SE
Ive found keeping your books up to day important, im surrounded with the last 2 months to get done, and i wish id done them sooner,
Get a diary write everything in it every day, Only takes a minute notes will do
Get a simple set up for your books, excel spread sheet and folder with plastic wallets for each month/big job to keep invoices and bills organised,
Payment on completion or within 7 days make sure the customer knows that,
Give estimates for jobs it'll be between example, it'll be between 60-100 deppending if theres any issues filling the system,
Cash flow is a must, get an over draft on a buisness acount and pay your merchants straight away, then when you need to pay later they'll know your good for it, materials supplied to jobs are paid for on delivery/arrival if exceeding £100

Set up stage payments on big jobs and stick to the agreement, no stage money = pull off until payment. If asked to do extra work during the job make sure you tell custard it's extra, make a note in a no carbon copy book, put price and get cust to sign and give copy, then no arguments at the end. Keep an eye on turnover, it's easy to go over vat threshold, remember vat threshold is calculated 3 ways to establish gross turnover, HMRC web site explains in detail. Have you calculated your break even charge out rate? Take all your costs including van insurance, rfl, servicing, tyres, fuel, public liability, accountants fee, provision for tools, bank charges, wages, EVERY COST OF RUNNING THE BUSINESS. Divide that by the number of hours a month you want to work and that will give you the cost per hour of running your business. Then you will know what you need to make to earn a profit or break even or make a loss.

Failure to do this is exactly why businesses go bust in the first two years.

 

[jewellers]

Going the extra mile when tidying up goes a long way. If the customer comes home to the job finished and a clean and tidy house you'll get a good reputation - Get a Henry!

 

[Radioman]

Check this postBusiness studies for plumbers?
http://www.ukplumbersforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=86657